It's for a Book: Difference between revisions

* In the novel ''Wilt'', by Tom Sharpe, Wilt claims he was researching murder methods which led up to people believing he murdered his wife.

* In [[Terry Pratchett]]'s ''[[Johnny Maxwell Trilogy]]'', Johnny observes that it's amazing what grown-ups will let you do if you tell them that you're doing a project.

* This trope even shows up in ''[[The Lord of the Rings]]''. When Frodo and his companions arrive at the inn in Bree, they realize they're going to need a plausible explanation for their wandering out of the Shire -- so Frodo claims to be a historian who's thinking of writing a book about the relationship between the Shire and Bree. Two volumes later, as they're returning home through Bree, Frodo is asked if he's written his book yet. He says he's still getting his notes in order. He wasn't completely lying - like [[The Hobbit|Bilbo before him]], Frodo [[Literary Agent Hypothesis|recorded the story of the characters]] in the Red Book, which was then passed down through generations of hobbits.

* In an ''[[Animorphs]]'' book (#6, ''The Capture''), the Animorphs are attempting to prevent the Yeerks from taking a politician when he has surgery at a hospital they control. To find out when he'll be there, Marco calls his office and gets his schedule by claiming to be from the press.

* A surprising number of men on ''[[Dateline (TV series)|Dateline]]: To Catch A Predator'' have claimed that their intention was not to have sex with the girl or boy, but to teach them about the dangers of talking to strangers online, or that they walked into a stranger's house in the middle of the night to research the housing market. Of course, their story is Swiss cheese once the host reveals he has a copy of the chat logs and that is definitely not what the suspect talked about.

* In his book ''Shark Life'', [[Peter Benchley]] notes he once asked his father which end of a shark would float were it cut in half.

[[Jaws (film)|"Trying to tell a story about a shark."]]<br />

"That's some shark." }}

* The customer in [http://notalwaysright.com/murder-she-wrote/6829 this] [[Not Always Right]] entry is probably on the level. It would be far weirder if she wasn't.

* John Rogers, showrunner and co-creator of ''[[Leverage]]'', recently wrote in a [http://kfmonkey.blogspot.com/2010/11/leverage-309-three-card-monte-job-post.html post-game of an episode]:

* [[Jim Butcher]], author of [[The Dresden Files]], once asked an aquarium worker what would happen if someone were to break the glass of one of the exhibits. He later reported that he caused this worker (and others) a great deal of distress with this question.

* [[Tom Clancy]], actually writing books about warfare and nuclear subs and such, often asked for info. He was once stunned when he was sent piles of information and parts bordering on classified. He was expecting a brush off.